Sealaska Heritage honors four Southeast educators at Juneau conference

Four educators working in Juneau, Metlakatla and Sitka were recognized by Sealaska Heritage Institute at its culturally responsive education conference in Juneau this month.

Three received Distinguished Educator Awards: Kaalkéis Rene'e Drummond, a Tlingit Culture, Language and Literacy teacher in Juneau; Chelsea Martinez, an Annette Island School District counselor in Metlakatla; and Bridgette Reynolds, a STEAM teacher at Pacific High School in Sitka who also teaches as an adjunct professor at the University of Alaska Southeast. The award recognizes teachers who work Indigenous knowledge and worldviews into their classrooms.

Luke Fortier, director of education at Goldbelt Heritage Institute in Juneau, received the Community-Based Learning Teaching Award, for carrying cultural understanding beyond the classroom into community engagement.

SHI, a tribal nonprofit founded in 1980, works to perpetuate Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures. Its announcement did not say what any of the four did to earn the honors.